HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - In 2008, as the nation's iconic 30-by-42 foot Star-Spangled Banner was being carried into a new state-of-the-art facility built especially for its display at the Smithsonian Institution, crews working on the building suddenly grew quiet.

"All the construction workers stopped as it passed by and placed their hands on their hearts. That is how objects inspire," said G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, at a commencement ceremony this morning for graduates of the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

During the ceremony at Von Braun Center's Probst Arena, about 560 UAHuntsville students received undergraduate degrees, nearly 320 students earned master's degrees, and 30 were awarded Ph.D. and DNP degrees.

Following conferral of degrees, UAHuntsville president Dr. Robert Altenkirch bestowed an honorary degree on Clough, who was president at Georgia Tech for 14 years before being named Secretary of the Smithsonian in 2008. Clough joked that UAH students regularly beat Georgia Tech students in an annual engineering challenge to build a concrete boat that floats.

During his address, Clough talked to soon-to-be graduates about the importance of inspiration.

"Inspiration: There's a word with magic in it," he said. He described growing up in Douglas, Ga., in a family of little means.

"My parents sacrificed so their children could go to college," he said "They showed you don't have to be a hero to inspire people."

He talked about the look of awe on children's faces as they witnessed the recent transport of the Space Shuttle Discovery, whose rockets were built at Marshall Space Flight Center, to its retirement home at the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum.

"I think it will continue to inspire as many people on display as it did in space," he said.

He said he was inspired at the sight of the Saturn V rocket, which is on permanent loan from the Smithsonian, during a tour Friday of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. See story here.

Clough asked students to consider the people and the objects that have inspired them, and think about what they plan to do to inspire others.

"You have a world-class education," he said. "You are one of the lucky ones. You have a chance to make a difference and share the power of inspiration through your example."

Clough told his audience about Jack Andraka, a 15-year-old who was the recent recipient of one of the Smithsonian's first American Ingenuity Awards.

As a freshman in high school in Crownsville, Md., Jack did some research, starting on Wikipedia and Google as any teen would, to learn more about pancreatic cancer following the death of a family friend from the disease, Clough said.

Soon, Jack had an epiphany and asked for time in a lab at Johns Hopkins University. Before long, the teenager had developed a tool to revolutionize detection of pancreatic cancer. In addition to the Smithsonian award, Jack's discovery also earned him the $75,000 grand prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Clough told graduates that Jack's example shows "you can change the world with your ideas."